Monday, August 22, 2011

New Season, New Fears

I'm beginning my 'other job' which will run for the next 6 months. I can't tell you what dread this fills me with. It will either be the best of times or the worst of times. I've never started a season feeling like this.

This position is one of the things that has given me the most and stripped me of the most confidence in my life. I'm great at it, but all it will take is a handful of nay-sayers and I'll be toast.

I'm tired and I'm not up for any kind of fight. I'm going to put everything into it, hope and pray for the best.

If you are inclined, pray for me too. I'll need it.

Currently listening to:
"Be The Song"
Foy Vance

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Lunchtime recordings

Over the last few years I've had writer's block. There are good reasons for this: 1. I'm not that interesting. 2. I don't really have much to say. 3. I'm crazily busy. All of these things make jack a dull boy.

Recently I've been playing and recording guitar in my car. This is thanks mostly to the lovely Cardwell family lending me a small guitar that goes everywhere with me. The second contributing factor is time. When I'm waiting on my beloved, and others, I've got sparadic unpredictable pockets of free time which need to be put to good use. The last part of the puzzle is my iPhone and an app called FourTrack.

FourTrack is, as the name suggests, a four track recorder. You can lay down a recording in the first track, then listen back while recording a second track, then a third, then a fourth. Once your four track masterpiece is captured you can alter the levels of each track, change the pan left or right and even mix the four tracks down to two tracks, giving you room for two more tracks to be recorded.

Armed with guitar, time and technology I can jam away, find something I like then record a few layers to see if the tune is worth developing. All this aside, there is no substitute for actual creative ability, which I'm finding comes hard these days. I'm starting off with some pretty unremarkable results, but hope that in time, and with the required amount of practice I might start creating things to be proud of.

As I go I'm going to start posting recordings on here as a mechanism to measure progress.

Currently listening to:
After the Storm
Mumford and Sons

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Then I Discovered Facebook & Twitter

....and stopped writing in my blog.

Time for a change me thinks. Out you come, I know its bright, but your eyes will adjust shortly.

Currently listening to:
"Backbone"
Ken Haddock